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Unit 3: Roaring 20s and the Great Depression

Course: English II + US History (Grade 10) Approximate period: 1920–1941 FPS Learning Goals: Explain the political, social, and economic changes of the 1920s and 1930s.

Proficiency scoring: see the official NDSBL US History Proficiency Scales (single source of truth for 1.0–4.0).

What This Unit Is About

The 1920s felt, to many Americans, like the country had finally arrived. The war was over, the economy was booming, consumer culture exploded, and new forms of music, fashion, and social freedom challenged Victorian norms. It was also a decade of profound reaction: the Red Scare, the revival of the KKK, Prohibition, anti-immigrant legislation, and racial violence made the decade far more complicated than "roaring."

Then the crash came. The Great Depression (1929–1941) was the worst economic catastrophe in American history. One in four workers was unemployed at its peak. Farmers watched their land blow away in the Dust Bowl. President Hoover believed government should not intervene in the economy — so FDR was elected on a platform promising that it would.

This unit covers: - The Red Scare (1919–1920): fear of communism and anarchism - Consumer culture of the 1920s: cars, radios, advertising, credit - Cultural shifts: Flappers, Jazz Age, Harlem Renaissance, Prohibition - The KKK revival and racist violence - Stock market crash (1929) and its causes - The Great Depression: unemployment, Dust Bowl, Hoovervilles - FDR's New Deal: relief, recovery, reform - Political cartoons as a primary source type in this era

All Six Standards Applied to Unit 3

US.6_12.1 + Unit 3 — Primary and Secondary Sources

Standard: Analyze primary and secondary sources with attention to reliability, impact, and purpose.

In Unit 3: Analyze sources on 1920s and 1930s political, social, and economic changes.

Key sources: - 1920s political cartoons (New Deal era) - Dust Bowl photographs (Dorothea Lange — "Migrant Mother" as primary source) - FDR's inaugural address ("We have nothing to fear but fear itself") - Federal Emergency Relief Administration documents - Harlem Renaissance literary and artistic works as primary sources - Hoover vs. FDR on the role of government in economic crisis

FPS Skill Strand: OEC — Explain the political, social, and economic changes of the 1920s and 1930s.

Learning targets: - I can analyze Dorothea Lange's Depression photographs for their purpose, choices, and argument. - I can compare Hoover's and FDR's statements on government's role in economic crisis. - I can evaluate a New Deal policy document for its goals and the assumptions behind them.

US.6_12.2 + Unit 3 — Multiple Perspectives

Standard: Examine the impact of multiple perspectives on social, political, and cultural development.

In Unit 3: Examine how 1920s cultural changes (jazz, flappers, consumer culture) and the Depression looked from different perspectives.

Key perspectives: - The Roaring 20s' winners: middle-class consumers with access to credit, cars, radios; the cultural elite of the Harlem Renaissance - The 1920s' losers: Black Americans facing continued racial violence; farmers already in depression before 1929; immigrants facing restriction (Immigration Act of 1924 dramatically reduced immigration) - Harlem Renaissance perspective: Black intellectual and artistic flourishing in the 1920s — Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Duke Ellington; a counter-narrative to the dominant white cultural story - Prohibition's contested reception: celebrated by temperance advocates and religious conservatives; resisted by immigrant communities, workers, and anyone who liked alcohol; created organized crime - Depression-era perspectives: unemployed workers vs. Hoover's "pull yourself up by your bootstraps"; FDR's coalition including Southern Democrats (who supported the New Deal but maintained Jim Crow)

Learning targets: - I can explain how the 1920s looked different for white middle-class Americans vs. Black Americans vs. recent immigrants. - I can analyze the Harlem Renaissance as a specific cultural and intellectual response to racial oppression.

US.6_12.3 + Unit 3 — Cause and Effect

Standard: Explain the relationship of events focusing on the link(s) between cause and effect.

In Unit 3 — FPS target: Explain the political, social, and economic events of the 1930s. Produce a 1930s argumentation summative.

Key cause-and-effect chains: - Overproduction + speculation + easy credit → stock market crash (1929): the economy of the 1920s was built on credit and speculation; the crash revealed how fragile the foundation was - Stock market crash → bank failures → unemployment → Great Depression: the financial panic triggered a cascade of bank runs, business closures, and mass unemployment - Drought + agricultural overproduction + Great Plains soil depletion → Dust Bowl: the "3 B's" (Black Sunday, Black Blizzard, Black Roller) driving 3.5 million people off the land - Great Depression + Hoover's inaction → FDR's New Deal election: the political consequence of economic disaster - New Deal → modern American welfare state: Social Security (1935), FDIC, SEC, minimum wage — institutions still governing American economic life

Learning targets: - I can explain the causes of the Great Depression using multiple connected cause-and-effect chains. - I can analyze how the New Deal changed the relationship between the federal government and the economy. - I can produce a written argument about a specific 1930s event or policy.

US.6_12.4 + Unit 3 — Change Over Time

Standard: Compare how historical elements change over time.

In Unit 3 — FPS target: Apply historical knowledge as a tool for examining current events: Great Depression, current economic policy, voting rights, government aid programs (stimulus), unionism, imperialism, U.S. involvement in Americas.

Key comparisons: - 1929 crash → 2008 financial crisis: the same patterns (speculation, deregulation, cascading financial failure); same debates (should government bail out banks and businesses?) - Dust Bowl → climate change migration: environmental crisis driving population movement - New Deal government programs → current debates about the size of government (stimulus checks, unemployment benefits) - 1930s labor movement → current labor organizing (Amazon, Starbucks) - Prohibition → current drug policy debates

US.6_12.5 + Unit 3 — Significant Contributions of People and Policy

Standard: Analyze the significant contributions of people, policy, and the influence on an era.

In Unit 3 — FPS target: Design, develop, and create a primary or secondary source rooted in Unit 3; evaluate its reliability, impact, and purpose.

Key people and policies: | Person/Policy | Contribution | |--------------|-------------| | FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) | New Deal architect; 3 R's: Relief, Recovery, Reform; transformed the presidency and federal government's role | | Herbert Hoover | Believed in "rugged individualism"; opposed direct federal relief; blamed for the Depression deepening; Hoovervilles named after him | | Eleanor Roosevelt | Expanded the role of First Lady; advocate for New Deal; civil rights ally; her own column and political network | | Dorothea Lange | FSA photographer; "Migrant Mother" became the iconic image of the Depression | | Social Security Act (1935) | Retirement insurance for workers; still the foundation of American retirement security | | New Deal (1933–1939) | Complex of relief, job creation, financial regulation, and agricultural programs; restructured the relationship between government and economy |

US.6_12.6 + Unit 3 — Past to Present

Standard: Connect the past to the present using current events.

Key connections: - Social Security and FDIC → still functioning institutions - New Deal coalition → Democratic Party politics for 40 years - Labor movement gains → minimum wage, 40-hour week, workplace safety - Dust Bowl environmental lessons → still largely ignored in Great Plains farming practices - Government stimulus debates (COVID relief, infrastructure) trace to New Deal arguments

Key Vocabulary for Unit 3

Term Definition
Roaring 20s The 1920s decade of economic prosperity, consumer culture, and cultural change
Red Scare The 1919–1920 fear of communist revolution in the U.S., following the Russian Revolution
Prohibition The constitutional ban on alcohol production and sale (18th Amendment, 1920–1933)
Harlem Renaissance The African American cultural, artistic, and intellectual movement centered in Harlem, NYC, in the 1920s
stock market crash The collapse of stock prices in October 1929, triggering the Great Depression
Great Depression The severe economic crisis of the 1930s; 25% unemployment at its peak
Dust Bowl The ecological disaster in the Great Plains (~1930–1936) caused by drought and unsustainable farming
New Deal FDR's program of relief, recovery, and reform programs designed to respond to the Great Depression
rugged individualism Hoover's belief that self-reliance and private charity, not government, should address economic hardship
Social Security The 1935 federal program providing retirement income for American workers

Skinnies for Unit 3

Standard Skinny
US.1 Science & Tech Unit 3 Skinny
US.2 Ideas & Beliefs Unit 3 Skinny
US.3 Political Systems Unit 3 Skinny
US.4 Social & Economic Unit 3 Skinny
US.5 Causes & Effects Unit 3 Skinny
US.6 Past to Present Unit 3 Skinny

Reading Library — Unit 3 Texts

CrashCourse Episodes — Unit 3

ELA crosswalk standards most used in Unit 3: - W.3 — Explanatory writing (explain causes of the Great Depression; explain how New Deal programs worked) - R.9 — Informational/argumentative analysis (FDR speeches, Depression-era journalism, New Deal debates) - IR.1–5 — Research bundle (active every studio)

Why This Is Relevant Today?

The 1920s are remembered for prosperity and cultural explosion — jazz, the Harlem Renaissance, mass consumer culture, the automobile, the radio. They're less remembered for what caused the 1929 crash: financial speculation, income inequality, agricultural collapse, and an international system that had no mechanism for managing simultaneous economic failure in multiple countries at once. The Great Depression that followed put 25% of Americans out of work and forced the country to rethink the relationship between government and the economy in ways that are still contested. Every debate about government spending in a recession, about the "automatic stabilizers" built into the welfare state, about whether inequality is self-correcting or requires intervention — those arguments were first made and tested in the 1930s. See USH-03: When the Floor Falls Out and The Great Gatsby.

Unit 3: Roaring 20s and Great Depression — SDA Commons Wiki See also: USH Standards Overview · Unit 2 — Imperialism & WWI · Unit 4 — WWII · Primary Sources